Signal Unknown
The sound reverbed through  the empty room at the bottom floor of the deserted observatory. 
Bouncing of dark computer screens, reflecting of large termianls and shattering against the 
dark windows. The signal peaking at 20cm and1kHz, just below the universal hydrogen band. 
It was barely audible, had it not been enhanced by filters and loudspeakers. All but one 
thing was certain, it was no human transmission.
He sat upp in bed suddenly, almost banging his head against the low shelves above the 
narrow bunk in wich heíd slept. The thick book heíd read just before falling asleep was 
sent crashing to the floor, the sound bringing him out of his startlement. The signal!, A 
signal! He literally flew out of bed, tripping and falling over the empty boxes and coils 
of cables littering the floor in the small storeroom. On shaky legs he stumbled into the 
recording room. Everywhere the same steady sound peak, dwarfing the other signals in 
strenght and clarity. He sank down in front of the recording terminal, the auto recorders 
were already running, recording the events taking place in the room. He broke the plastic 
seal of the black manilla with the blue Project Phoenix logo,  containing the Post 
Detection Protocol, checking step by step the presumed alien signal. This was a 
breakthrough of cosmic proportions! Who could tell what boons and blissís this could bring 
to humanity, what these extraterrestrial beings would know and tell. An advanced 
civilization no doubt. He had to keep himself from shouting out loud. Screaming to the 
world, and what lay beyond. He flipped feverishly through the pages, performing check after 
check without thinking, his mind on greater scheme of things. He must tell the others, he 
must tell everybody, the entire world must hear of the news. But first he must be sure, he 
must, without the shadow of a doubt prove that this signal was alien, that it didnít 
originate on earth. He tapped quickly on his keyboard, initiating the search for the 
transmitting star. Tapping return stars started blanking out on the computerized map in 
front of him, the signalís faint but nonetheless present whine filling his ears like music. 
This was too good to be true, it was better, think that he, he was the one who would tell 
the world of the breathtaking discovery, we are not alone. 
Names blacked out, star after star disappeared from the map. According to the computer the 
search was fifty percent complete now. He wished silently for the beings out there to 
continue sending the signal, just for a little while longer. The signal didnít disappear, 
steady and strong it continued. This didnít usually take that long, the transmission must 
be immensly strong, overflowing the recievers. Or perhaps it was aimed towards earth 
itself, but that must mean the know we are here, that we are listening. Two of the four 
remaining stars blacked out, and then another one, one lone star remained on the otherwise 
pitch black starmap. A status tarcker appeared on the second monitor. îAlpha centauriî it 
read, est. dist. 4.2 Lightyears, His eyes watered, so it was true, there was life out 
there, in the void, advanced life capable of communicating, they finally had evidence. The 
signal was aimed directly at earth too, but why then only send a tone? Why not a complete 
message, a message of peace and mutual understanding and cooperation? As he sat there, 
filled with dumbstruck awe at the thought, the tone changed pitch slightly, and then burst 
into a series of long and short beeps. His computer went haywire, this must be a digital 
communication, a true message from a strange and unknown place! His excitement increased, 
strange diagrams and letters appeared on the screen, twisting into each other, becoming one 
another as if the letters themselves were alive. But somehow, it made sense, as if his 
brain understood what he could not read, before his eyes the letters and diagrams slid into 
focus.
The pistol clattered to the floor, dead eyes stared straight ahead at the screen with a 
strange longing. He slowly fell off the chair, behind him the recorder tapes burned in a 
smoky funeral pyre. Sticky smoke filled the room. In the room, the only monitor still on 
displayed  only four words, four words, innocent by themselves, but together spelling out 
the greatest question mankind has ever faced, a question that must never have an answer. 
Because knowing the answer would be so much more terrifying than spending a lifetime 
searching for it, searching for The Meaning Of Life.
Per Sikora 2000